Altria Group, Inc. (MO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.02 on July 10th

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of 1.02 per share on Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th.

Altria Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 56 years. Altria Group has a payout ratio of 73.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Altria Group to earn $5.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.6%.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.87 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.50. Altria Group has a one year low of $43.83 and a one year high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $99.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Altria Group stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,702 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.